The invention relates to a method for performing an automatic configuration of an optical network element comprising optical modules each having multiple fibres and in particular to performing an automatic configuration of dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) switch modules and autonomous fibre map configuration.
Conventional DWDM switch nodes in optical networks typically comprise a number of different cards which are interconnected by optical patch cards, i.e. single or multi fibre cables. Due to the high number of involved cards and the high number of cables that need to be installed a setup can become quite complicated. Consequently because of the many necessary cabling instructions a faulty cabling might be provided because of human errors. A card and node commissioning requires a knowledge of the fibre map because each port connection is specific. In conventional DWDM switch nodes logical connections are individually commissioned by hand according to a preplanned fibre map. This manual connection takes time and can create errors for a first installation and each upgrade.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an optical network element which allows an automatic configuration.